Floods and Landslides in Switzerland

August 2005

The most heavy rainfalls since more than 100 years in Switzerland
(and ever since precise statistics are available)
from Saturday August, 20th to Monday August, 22th
have devastated large regions of the country. Five people are
reported to have been killed, two are still missing.

Estimates of material damages go from 500 million Swiss Francs (333,000 US $)
to 2,000 million Swiss Francs (1.3 billion $).
Major roads and railroads crossing the alps (St. Gotthard, Lötschberg)
have been cut for several days,
but Southern Switzerland could always be reached over the San Bernardino route.
The Lötschberg railway line is operational again since Wednesday August, 24th.

The prealpine regions Entlebuch (west of Lucerne), Obwalden
and Bernese Oberland and the roads and railroads between Zurich /
Lucerne and St. Gotthard at the foot of prealpine Mount Rigi
were hit by landslides and rivers Schächen and Reuss flooded
the region around Altdorf (Uri) at the upper end of Lake Lucerne,
cutting off the main transit route to southern Switzerland.

The floods of Rivers Kleine Emme, Reuss, Aare and of many small
brooks that have become huge rivers have carried away some roads and
bridges and caused the lakes of Sarnen, Lucerne, Thun and Biel to reach
their 100 year high level marks.

Cities of Lucerne, Thun, Berne hit by Minor Inundations

Major cities were confronted with with inundations: the downtowns of Lucerne
and Thun, situated at the lower end of major lakes were flooded for one week
(but only 2 feet high) and the cities have been cut into two parts;
in Berne the small Matte district at the banks of River Aare
had to be evacuated, while 95% of the city (located on hills) remained
completely dry and faced no problems at all.
Overall these cities, though present in the media, could always easily be
reached from outside, there was no shortage of supply, electricity was
cut only for very limited number of households and almost everybody went to work
within the city or commuted to other places almost as usual.

On the other side some prealpine regions were hit much harder:
hundreds of houses in some villages in central Switzerland (Entlebuch,
Engelberg, Melchtal, Glarus), several resorts in the Bernese Oberland
region (particularly Diemtigtal, Grindelwald, Brienz) and the lower
Engadin area in Grisons had to be evacuated and many villages in these
regions could not be reached except by helicopters for up to two weeks.
Many houses have been severly damaged or completely destroyed by landslides.
While the evacuated local population stayed in other houses within
the same village, some 1500 tourists have been evacuated within
two days from the region.

Back to Normality: a Timeline

Rainfalls finally ceased in Switzerland on Wednesday August 24th.
On Thursday August, 25th the situation had become a little better
in Switzerland:
the Engiadin, Bernese Oberland
and Uri regions could be reached again by road and/or train at least
for supplies, though traffic was still restricted.

August, 26th:
Switzerland's Federal Railways ran one passenger train per hour
and direction from Basel to Ticino on the St. Gotthard main line (instead
of three).

The roads to the villages of Engelberg and Melchtal in canton Obwalden and
to some villages in canton Uri (all central Switzerland) were still cut off
and many houses there were without electricity and cable-based telephone
communication for almost two weeks.
Supplies by helicopters were always guaranteed, however.

September, 1st: a provisional road to Engelberg was opened, less than two
weeks after the heavy rainfalls. For some time, the railway line will
be interrupted, but public transport is guaranteed by buses.
Authorities are confident that the railway line can be reopend before
christmas so that the will be no shortage in transportation capacity
during the winter sports season.

September, 24th: Major shopping facilities in Littau that have been
flooded by the waters of River Kleine Emme coming from the
Entlebuch region are reopened.

Lessons learnt

Switzerland's political structures giving as much autonomy and
responsibility to the cantons and communes proved to be very adequate
to tackle the crisis:

every family had food rations etc. to survive for one week

local rescue teams, though not professionals, but ordinary citizens
professionally organized, equipped and trained on communal level
did a fantastic job

cantonal task forces coordinated help from regions not hit by
the catastrophe and of the Swiss Army in close cooperation with
the communal authorities

and these helpers, as far as needed, were right at the problem
spots from the second day

people who had to be evacuated found shelter within the region and
took part in useful common actions

everywhere private initiative and help among neighbours could be seen

nobody was being treated as a refugee but rather as valuable members
of the society

Switzerland's federalist system of government
based on extremely distributed political power,
though often criticized as complicated and clumsy in normal times,
proved to be much more flexible and efficient than large organisations
on national level.

Though nobody really waited for national politicians to act immediately,
both Switzerland's president (and minister of defense), Samuel Schmid,
and the minister of transportation and energy, Moritz Leuenberger,
were soon present right at the problem spots, talked with local experts as
well as with ordinary people and found words that both encouraged the
population and showed respect for their local actions.

Mr. Leuenberger focused on one example of preventive measures that has
saved damages of 100 million Swiss Francs at a cost of only 25 million
Swiss Francs, a cantonal project planned, decided on in a cantonal
referendum and financed mainly by cantonal taxes with some federal
subsidies.
Mr. Leuenberger announced that he will encourage preventive action
in the years to come in joint efforts by the Swiss confederation,
the cantons and the communes.